ORC International was commissioned by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) in November 2009 to conduct an evaluation of the Companies Act 2006, to assess awareness of and compliance with or the adoption of key measures implemented through the Companies Act 2006; thus in turn allowing the impact of the Act to be evaluated. This study was the first large scale evaluation of the Companies Act 2006, an enabling Act that covers 1300 provisions affecting all sizes of companies in the UK. The research programme was challenging given the scope of the Act, the need to cover all types of businesses, the technicality of the subject matter and sampling complexities to ensure a robust approach.